1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ruggedized computing and more particularly to environmentally hardened computing appliances.
2. Description of the Related Art
The general computing environment is one that is controlled in terms of moisture, pressure, contaminate concentration and temperature. The ordinary computer typically is deployed into an office or home environment where environmental factors remain nearly constant. As such, manufacturers of computing equipment provide a reasonable operating range for computing equipment suitable for the indoor controlled temperature and humidity environment without regard to more extreme environmental conditions found in the outdoors or within an industrial setting like a factory or shop floor.
A sub-market of computing equipment, however, has evolved to address the harsher environmental conditions of industry. In these cases, computing equipment can be “environmentally hardened” which means computing equipment can be manufactured and assembled to withstand adverse environmental conditions such as excessively hot or cold temperature environments encountered in a factory or outdoor setting, humidity and moisture environments found in largely un-air-conditioned factory spaces, or excessively dusty environments typical of a factory shop floor. Remedial measures used to environmentally harden computing equipment often include sealed componentry for waterproofing and dust proofing, additional fans and circulatory features to encourage cooling in an excessively hot environment, or insulative materials used in excessively cold environments.
For a ruggedized computing appliance, temperature can be of paramount concern. However, while the exterior environment is a key component of the temperature experienced by the computing appliance, so too is the heat generated by computing appliance in the course of operation. In this regard, the constant utilization of a hard disk drive in addition to the shear temperature of one or more processors of the computing appliance can result in the temperature of the interior portions of the computing appliance largely stemming from the operation of the appliance itself. The impact upon the appliance of the exterior temperature of the environment in many cases can be the difference between the failure of the appliance and the continued operation of the appliance.